Students to use 6 tons of food to build their entry Nov. 8 at d’Art Center

NORFOLK, Va. (Oct. 26, 2006) - What do you do with 11,700 cans of food? Build a 6-ton structure, of course. At least, that’s what the Engineering Club at Tidewater Community College is planning.

With the theme, “Smooth Away Hunger,” TCC students will help raise awareness with their colorful entry - a huge blender of fruit - in the nationwide CANstruction competition, set for Nov. 8-9 in Selden Arcade in downtown Norfolk.

Created in 1992 and now held in 65 United States cities, CANstruction combines the competitive spirit of a design/build contest, with a unique way to feed the hungry. Competing teams of engineering and architectural students and professionals build huge sculptures out of donated canned food items. After the creations are judged and exhibited for two weeks, the food goes to a local food bank.

This is the eighth year that TCC’s Engineering Club has entered CANstruction. Farm Fresh has served as the club’s sponsor for the past seven years, contributing about 50,000 lbs. - or 25 tons - of canned food.

It also helps engineering students meet and network with professional engineers, Gordy notes. In fact, his club often competes with former TCC students now employed with local firms.

Last year, the TCC club won the Structural Integrity award for their design featuring huge M&M characters with a theme of “Hunger: Don’t candy coat it!” The year previous, the club’s entry was selected as the Juror’s Favorite with a huge dictionary opened to a page of H words featuring an equally huge pencil erasing the word hunger. This year’s entry will consist of a blender full of fruit, a pineapple, a mango and a peach. Picture a giant smoothie!

Norfolk’s CANstruction competition will take place Nov. 8-9 at Selden Arcade, home to Norfolk’s d’Art Center. Construction of entries will take place from 5 p.m. to midnight on Nov. 8. The awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. on Nov. 9. The event is free and open to the public. The structures will be displayed at d’Art Center beginning Nov. 9.

Tidewater Community College
is the second largest of the 23 community colleges in the Commonwealth
of Virginia, enrolling more than 37,000 students annually. The 37th
largest in the nation’s 1,600 community-college network, TCC
ranks among the 50 fastest-growing large community colleges. Founded
in 1968 as a part of the Virginia Community College System, the
college serves the South Hampton Roads region with campuses in Chesapeake,
Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach as well as the TCC Jeanne
and George Roper Performing Arts Center in the theater district
in downtown Norfolk, the Visual Arts Center in Olde Towne Portsmouth
and a regional Advanced Technology Center in Virginia Beach. Forty-four
percent of the region’s residents attending a college or university
in Virginia last fall were enrolled at TCC. For more information,
visit www.tcc.edu